Total Red Sox

I have mixed feelings about the return of Topps Total.  The brand meant two things to collectors: 1. player selection and 2. inexpensive.  The return does accomplish the first part, but definitely not the second one.  There are several players in the new Topps Total that do not receive many cards, but packs cost $10.00 for ten cards and are only available online.  They are also being released in nine 100 card waves so you only get ten cards from each wave.

I am tracking down the Red Sox singles and recently picked up the Wave 2 cards.  Matt Barnes and Rick Porcello are not exceedingly rare, though they usually only show up in larger sets.  For Porcello, that's odd since he is a former Cy Young Award winner.  But then there is Heath Hembree, who is the primary reason I went for this lot.  I only had one card of Hembree before and it was a Prizm card, so the team logo was airbrushed out and it came after he was acquired, so it was unlikely that it was a Red Sox card in the first place.  So, of course I went for this.